Minnesota’s Northstar commuter rail operation could be nearing the end of the line. On February 24, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Council (the regional planning agency for the Twin Cities) announced that it was studying replacing Northstar service between Big Lake, Minn., and downtown Minneapolis with buses. 

Prior to the pandemic, about 2,000 to 3,000 people rode the trains daily, but according to MPR News, that number has dropped to only a few hundred. In 2023, the line collected about $323,589 in fares but cost about $11.6 million to operate. 

Northstar was established in 2009 and runs on BNSF Railway trackage, which also operates it through its commuter rail department (Besides Northstar, BNSF operates passenger trains for Metra in Illinois, Sounder in Washington, and Metrolink in California). Originally, the line was supposed to connect the Twin Cities with St. Cloud, but an extension beyond Big Lake never occurred. Some have said that’s why the service has never thrived. Ridership on Northstar also lags behind commuter operations of similar size. 

On the same day the Department of Transportation announced it was looking at replacing the service with buses, a Republican state representative introduced legislation to terminate the service completely. 

“Northstar has been an over $320 million failed experiment in commuter transit,” Rep. Jon Koznick stated in a news release. “Taxpayers have been forced to subsidize a rail line that continues to underperform year after year, and it’s time to stop wasting $11 million annually on a project that simply doesn’t work to reduce congestion or move people.”

For its part, Department of Transportation officials stated they were committed to providing high-quality transportation to those who rely on Northstar presently but that it will likely look different in the future. —Justin Franz